The utilization of barbed tape has become prevalent in both military as well as commercial applications. The original barbed tape is exemplified by the structure disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,908,484 issued Oct. 13, 1959 to Uhl. Such early barbed tape was typically referred to as "German barbed tape" and incorporated barbs formed from flat sheet metal stock. The efficacy of such barbed tape has been enhanced through subsequent developments such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,463,455 issued Aug. 26, 1969 to P. T. Meckel.
Such improved barbed tapes incorporate a unitary flat metal strip that is bent in the plane of the strip to form a helix and includes cut-away portions to provide elongated barbs at spaced intervals along the two edges of the strip. These barriers may be formed with a continuous uniform arcuate curvature or, in some instances, may be formed by edge bending the strip into identically angularly displaced adjoining linear segments to form the helix; the segmented helix is disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,040,603 issued Aug. 9, 1977 to Mainiero. A further improvement in such barbed tape is described and claimed and U.S. Pat. No. 4,509,726 issued Apr. 9, 1985 to Boggs et al. In the latter patent, it was recognized that the efficacy of the barbed tape design depends in large measure upon the penetrating or impaling ability of the respective barbs; that is, the barbs must have a sharp point and preferably should have sufficient length to permit the barb to contact and penetrate an intruder's skin or clothing. Further, it was realized that an important feature of the efficiency with which the barbed tape accomplished this purpose (i.e., to avoid or prevent intrusion into a protected area) depends to some measure on the intimidating appearance of the barrier formed by the deployed barbed tape. The intimidating effects of the barbed tape are particularly important in commercial applications where breaching the barrier presented by the barbed tape is a matter of choice for the intruder rather than a matter of necessity as may be the case in a military application. It is therefore important to retain all of the benefits afforded by the prior art barbed tape designs including the penetration/impalement capacity of the barb, and the value of the intimidating appearance of the barbed tape.